A peek into the life of my camera

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Suddenly a rush of footsteps reaches Lily’s ears and the sound of Rachel calling for her “Lily, come on, time for school”. Lily comes into the kitchen from Grandma’s room and sits at one end of the table. She is joined by four other children ages 4-10 now sitting, plopping backpacks onto the table, pulling workbooks and pencils out and generally getting their things settled. Lily reaches down to her feet, pulls up her basket of books and gets them up onto the table as Rachel says, “Today let’s start in English instead of math. That storm last night probably had us all awake with fright and I bet our heads are still a bit groggy, so let’s start slow today okay? “ The kids answer with, “sure!” “okay, that’s good”, “yeah”. These extra kids belong to Rachel’s brother John and his wife Nikki. They are as follows:

Tucker, a boy, age 10.
Harper, a girl, age 8.
Booker, a son, age 6.
Catcher, a girl, age 4.

We have simple lives, we do basic things, and we live in a small, slow moving part of the world where nothing too exciting happens. I can say I am easily amused. It’s a good thing really, if I weren’t then I’d likely be bored with the slow easy life I have here.

We run errands to the store for milk and bread, we take trash to the dump (no city pick up here) and stop by Scott’s work to drop off his lunch or help him get the flag down and folded at the end of the day. We sit out and watch the water and spot minnows and check the tide and look for sea glass. We do housekeeping, hanging up laundry on warm and sunny days. The boys do a little school, a little play, read books and draw. This is our life in the summer, a typical summer day.

Sam blows up his face from inside the car.

Jack makes a crazy face.

Max in the car as we are ready to head to town.

Max falls asleep during the TWELVE minute drive to Scott’s work to drop off lunch.

We go through a LOT of towels around here. Hanging them on the line is a good option for drying.

Batman stopped by for a visit!

Max searching out birthday ideas for his upcoming 11th birthday.

Sam got a tent for his birthday. It’s where I can find boys reading books.

When you are going to a viewing of a friend or family member who’s recently passed over, there are a few things you should, and should not do.

1) Don’t say merely “he/she’s in a better place”. Instead say either “they are in heaven” or “they aren’t in pain” (assuming they died of a painful issue.) if you aren’t a believer or you don’t know where the decedent has gone on to, just say “they will be missed.”

2) Do say I’m sorry your lost your dad/mom/sister/cousin/etc, NOT just “I’m sorry for your loss”. And follow it up with “I remember when they did/said….(something funny, sweet,brave,etc)” Try to relate to the bereaved.

3) Don’t hold ON TO the bereaved, They are wobbly enough as it is. If they look wobbly then YOU sit down and ask them to join you.

4) Don’t be a “close talker” (it’s a Seinfeld thing). Keep your head at least two heads away from the one you’re talking to.

5) Do take time to walk around and see the flowers sent. Make a point later on, to let the senders know you saw the flowers they sent and how lovely they were.

I’m sure I will come up with things to not do at a funeral and maybe I’ll post those tomorrow. It’s going to be a long weekend as we go here and yon. I appreciate your continued prayers.

Special Thanks to Kathleen for coming and sitting with me. Thanks to Geri for driving all the way from N.C. to be my “plus 1” AND for bringing me cake with an extra tub of Geri made icing just for me. Thanks to Jeff for coming along so Geri wouldn’t get lost. Thanks to Lee for coming from Kentucky and Mike for coming from Annapolis and for Daryl for coming from Colorado. I really REALLY hope we end up with a HUGE crowd tomorrow, mom picked catering for 300 people. So if you’re reading this and you weren’t sure, by all means, come on!

So here’s what’s up. I’ve been busy working between 24-36 hours a week in addition to being a full time mom and part time home school mom. Home school is suffering. SUFFERING. The eldest son gets up before the rest of us and gets his work done. The “threebies” as I like to call my stair-steps are getting maybe three days a week. Maybe.

So what’s up with me? Well when I get two days off in a row (which my gracious boss does for me when she can) I try to get up to Virginia to see my dad and mom. We did this at Easter which happened to also be my nephew Thomas’s first birthday.

While there my mom mentioned that dad is writing letters to all of his grandchildren, a memoir of sorts for each child, and he needed a picture of he and Thomas together.

I took my “littles” with me for another trip to Virginia a few weeks ago. We spent time with mom while dad rested. We had fun at their big mall. (big by my little town’s standards anyway!)

One day Scott came running into the house yelling “where’s your camera?” “in my camera bag” ” WHERE is your camera???” “IN MY CAMERA BAG!” (am I exasperating or what?!?)

This is the picture he took of his exciting find. Obviously hubby doesn’t know how to use the focus.

Here are the two shots I got. How fun to find these two creatures perched and napping on the side of our house.

Did you know we have a cat? She’s quite the huntress. Here was a “gift” she left us one morning.

Can you see the fleas? Yikes!

Let’s find something else to end this blog with. How about little baby Thomas’s rebel yell? Yes!!! My favorite picture from the post cake/in the sandbox/wearing a do rag day.

I’m an Aunt to six lovely people. This weekend I was able to hang out with two of them: my niece Lily, who lived with us from age 8 months to 14 months and is now living with my parents, and my nephew Thomas, who was born ON my birthday last year. I ONLY took pictures of these two while up in Virginia this weekend. Enjoy!

Lily woke up to ME in her bedroom and I was able to get her breakfast and milk. She knew exactly how to put on the TV and on what channel. I'm so glad she's thriving with my parents.

Baby Thomas. Lily rubs his head and says with her lisp "thomath ith tho hanthome"

Lily late Saturday night. Using the lightscoop.

playing in the laundry basket. Mema (my mom) says she does this all the time.

My sister and baby Thomas after a long day of (grownups) painting the guest cottage. Thomas had spent the day with his Nana, but was dropped off to us just in time for his nite time bottle. Lightscoop again here.

Thomas staring at Papa (my dad) with his own daddy Nathan in the background.

Lauren helps Thomas warm up to Papa with a few cuddles and tickles.

A great smile!

A few more tickles and Thomas was warmed up to Papa. No more tears!

Time for Thomas to have dinner.

Blueberries! Yummy!

Look at all those teeth~ He looks different depending on if you see his teeth or if you don't. Those blue eyes are CRAAAZZYYY.

Sunday morning before we all say goodbye. The painting was done and it was time for us kids to head home. Baby Thomas is perched on his daddies head, just the right spot to REACH for the ceiling fan.